Special Report
Education

State Highlights Reports

January 05, 2011 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

About These Reports

The 15th annual edition of Education Week‘s Quality Counts continues the report’s tradition of tracking key education indicators and grading the states on their policy efforts and outcomes. This year’s special theme—the impact of the economy on education—is complemented by updated 50-state information on policies and conditions in four of the areas monitored by the report on an ongoing basis: Chance for Success; K-12 achievement; transitions and alignment policies; and school finance. Most of the indicators that appear in Quality Counts are based on original analyses and state-survey data from the EPE Research Center. The report also supplements those data with information published by other organizations.

In past years, the print edition of Quality Counts has provided an annual update on state policy initiatives in several key areas and has also used original data analyses to track state educational progress and performance in three other areas. Beginning with Quality Counts 2009, the report moved to a modular research design in which the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center surveys the states about policy issues on an every-other-year rotation. This approach was designed to lessen the burden on state respondents without compromising our timely reporting on key educational policy developments.

In order to provide a comprehensive perspective on state policy and performance, the 2011 State Highlights Reports integrate findings across multiple years of indicators reported in the 2010 and 2011 print editions of Quality Counts. This approach allows us to capture state standings across all six topics that constitute the analytic framework of Quality Counts. The overall state letter grades awarded in the State Highlights Reports are based on the following categories: Chance for Success; K-12 achievement; transitions and alignment; school finance; standards, assessments, and accountability; and the teaching profession.

Overall findings from Quality Counts show that some states perform consistently well or poorly across the full range of graded categories. However, a closer examination of the rankings reveals that most states post a strong showing in at least one area. This suggests that while broad evaluations of state performance can be useful, a more thorough reading of the results presented in this State Highlights Report will provide a more nuanced perspective on the educational condition of the nation and of individual states.

Editorial Projects in Education Research Center January 2011

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Mathematics Webinar
Pave the Path to Excellence in Math
Empower your students' math journey with Sue O'Connell, author of “Math in Practice” and “Navigating Numeracy.”
Content provided by hand2mind
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Recruitment & Retention Webinar
Combatting Teacher Shortages: Strategies for Classroom Balance and Learning Success
Learn from leaders in education as they share insights and strategies to support teachers and students.
Content provided by DreamBox Learning
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum Reading Instruction and AI: New Strategies for the Big Education Challenges of Our Time
Join the conversation as experts in the field explore these instructional pain points and offer game-changing guidance for K-12 leaders and educators.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: September 20, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education From Our Research Center What's on the Minds of Educators, in Charts
Politics, gender equity, and technology—how teachers and administrators say these issues are affecting the field.
1 min read
Stylized illustration of a pie chart
Traci Daberko for Education Week
Education Briefly Stated: August 30, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 23, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read